The Oklahoma City Thunder`s championship victory in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals against the Indiana Pacers marked a pivotal moment, not just for the franchise but for its executive vice president, Sam Presti. While a photo of legendary coach Bill Walsh calmly preparing for a Super Bowl hangs in his office as an aspiration, Presti took a different approach the night before the biggest game of his professional life: he played his drums.
The rhythm and intensity of the music seemed to channel the journey of building and rebuilding the Thunder. Lessons from the rise and eventual departure of the Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden era deeply influenced the construction of this new, championship-winning core: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren.
Presti`s constant focus is on construction and strategy, but drumming provides an escape, accessing a different part of his mind.
This difference is precisely what distinguishes the current Thunder team. Both the 2012 and 2025 squads were young and featured eerily similar player archetypes: a stylish, ball-dominant point guard; a lanky, skilled 7-footer; and an unconventional wing capable of dynamic drives.
The physical resemblances were striking, almost as if Presti had deliberately sought lookalikes from 2019 onwards. However, there was one crucial difference in the casting: this time, Presti prioritized humility over swagger.
The first trio of superstars eventually outgrew the team framework, each seeking a larger role elsewhere. Their competitive drive often extended to each other, fueled by ambition and ego. In contrast, the three stars who secured the Thunder`s first championship on Sunday night genuinely embrace sharing the spotlight. They often include their entire team in post-game interviews.
When Shai Gilgeous-Alexander received the Finals MVP award from ABC`s Lisa Salters and was asked about his partnership with Jalen Williams, he immediately pulled his teammate into the presentation. After composing himself, Gilgeous-Alexander declared, “Jalen Williams … is a one-in-a-lifetime player.” He paused again amidst the crowd`s cheers, adding, “One second, sorry. Without him, without his performances, without his big-time moments, without his shotmaking, defending, everything he brings to this team, we don`t win this championship without him. This is just as much my MVP as it is his.”
Following Williams` turn holding the trophy, he handed it back to Gilgeous-Alexander, who then encouraged his teammates to pass it around. “Pass it around,” he insisted. This ethos of shared success permeates the organization.
“Our togetherness on and off the court, how much fun we have, it made it feel like we were just kids playing basketball,” Gilgeous-Alexander reflected.
In many respects, they were just kids playing a game. This Thunder team became the youngest to win an NBA title in nearly 50 years. Jalen Williams, at 24, was only 10 when the Durant-Westbrook-Harden team fell to LeBron James and the Miami Heat in the 2012 Finals, too young to grasp the historical parallels. He was so young, in fact, that his first taste of alcohol was during the champagne celebration in the locker room Sunday night. “That was my first drink,” Williams confirmed later. The team was so youthful that 31-year-old Alex Caruso had to show them how to open the champagne bottles. “I`m old because they just haven`t been around anybody over 30 before,” Caruso joked.
Presti, however, remembers the 2012 Finals vividly. That experience informed how he built this team differently. His office walls, next to the Bill Walsh photo, are covered with printed sayings on magnets:
CHARACTER IS FATE.
TO BUILD IS IMMORTAL.
AGILITY IS THE QUALITY OF AN OPTIMIST.
POST TRAUMATIC GROWTH.
HARDER BUT SMARTER.
INFORM THE MUSIC.
The last saying, “Inform the Music,” came from a Fleetwood Mac documentary, reflecting Presti`s fascination with the creative process and the stories behind art. He constantly thinks about building, but the championship moment required trust in the preparation. He was cautious, especially after the Game 6 loss, but ultimately prepared.
“These guys represent all that`s good at a young age,” Presti stated on the championship stage. “They prioritize winning, they prioritize sacrifice, and it just kind of unfolded very quickly. Age is a number. Sacrifice and maturity is a characteristic, and these guys have it in spades.”
A Roster Built Differently
All season, the primary question surrounding the Thunder was their youth. Would they falter against more experienced teams? Would the pressure of winning 68 regular-season games – the sixth-most in history – prove too much? Could they win close games despite their record-breaking point differential?
The 2012 team faced similar doubts. Durant and Westbrook were 23, Harden 22. Like this year`s team, they seemed destined for a decade of championship contention. “I thought we`d be winning two or three championships,” recalled former Thunder guard Reggie Jackson. “But our story didn`t go as expected.” That year, they simply weren`t ready; the Heat, having lost the previous Finals, were fueled by that experience.
The assumption was that the 2012 Thunder would return stronger. Presti initially believed the optimal window for winning was when stars hit their prime around 26-27, mirroring the San Antonio Spurs model with Duncan, Ginobili, and Parker. This meant preserving financial flexibility.
When James Harden`s extension was due, Presti offered near-maximum terms, hoping Harden would accept slightly less for the collective goal. However, Harden, influenced by conversations with stars like Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul during the 2012 Olympics, had his own ambitions. The Thunder`s offer was just $5 million shy of a full max but would have pushed them into the luxury tax, which they aimed to avoid. When Harden declined, Presti felt compelled to trade him to maintain the long-term vision and the cultural tenet of sacrifice.
Presti emphasized the word “sacrifice” twice on the championship podium, highlighting a key lesson from the first build: maturity is a characteristic, not just tied to age. The data-driven approach of waiting for a specific age window didn`t account for an alternate reality – one where a team could mature rapidly, as this Thunder squad did. “They`re young, but their maturity, selflessness and true love for one another is really unique and special,” Presti told ESPN. “The age is what it is. They`ve never let that define them.”
New magnets on Presti`s office wall reflect this evolution:
IN ORDER TO BE EXCEPTIONAL, YOU HAVE TO BE WILLING TO BE THE EXCEPTION
Mark Daigneault, groomed by Presti much like Presti was by the Spurs, has become accustomed to the sayings in the GM`s office. Presti discovered Daigneault on the University of Florida`s coaching staff and brought him to OKC to work with young players. Daigneault spent five years coaching the Thunder`s developmental team, the Blue, a job he deeply enjoyed. Presti saw his potential as a future head coach, observing him closely during a Blue road trip.
Daigneault wasn`t aware he was being evaluated for the NBA job; he simply loved coaching in the G League. The Blue practice at the Thunder`s original facility, a former roller-skating rink notable for being downwind of a dog food plant – a smell every player who goes through the program remembers. Being promoted to the Thunder means leaving that smell behind. Yet, in Daigneault`s second year as head coach, he intentionally grounded the team in its origins. After a 22-50 season following Chris Paul`s trade and the start of the full rebuild under Daigneault, players arrived at training camp in 2021 to find buses waiting to take them to the Blue facility. Practicing there, where the original Thunder teams started, was a motivational reminder of the franchise`s beginnings.
Aaron Wiggins explained, “My rookie year we did a whole thing. We just kind of went through the way that they were able to pave the way for us to be here, and we acknowledged everything they went through… Our coaching staff just wanted to prioritize that baseline.”
Among Presti`s many magnets, Daigneault has a favorite, a line from the movie `Poolhall Junkies`:
SOMETIMES THE LION HAS TO SHOW THE JACKALS WHO HE IS.
The Cornerstone: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
The summer of 2019 marked the unofficial end of the Thunder`s first era and the genesis of the second. Russell Westbrook was traded to Houston, a week after Paul George went to the Clippers in a deal that brought back Gilgeous-Alexander, the draft pick that became Jalen Williams, and a wealth of future picks that fueled the rebuild.
Presti didn`t foresee trading for a future MVP and All-NBA player. He expected Gilgeous-Alexander to be good, perhaps very good, but not an MVP candidate. In April 2022, Presti recounted seeing Gilgeous-Alexander at the Thunder facility late one night after the exhausting Westbrook trade. He heard a ball bouncing and saw SGA practicing through an office window.
“He didn`t even have Thunder gear on,” Presti remembered thinking. “What kind of shop are we running here? It was ironic to me, and I thought, `If this guy ever becomes a player, I`ve got to remember this story.`”
Presti shared this story after the 2022-23 season, by which point Gilgeous-Alexander had become a rising star, leading the Thunder to 40 wins and the play-in tournament. Even then, Presti didn`t fully grasp how much more SGA would develop, or how unusual it was to see him dressed simply.
For Gilgeous-Alexander, being traded was a low point. He questioned if he had a flaw and dealt with the feeling by working tirelessly in the gym. While he rarely speaks about this sense of rejection, he did address it this season: “Their front office made a trade that they thought was the best for their team… Same with the Thunder. Then the last five years I`ve tried to focus on my development and the team`s development… I`d say that it worked out in my favor.”
Gilgeous-Alexander is rarely dressed down these days. Growing up, his mother, Charmaine Gilgeous, insisted her sons “fixed up” before leaving the house. “You step out of the house, you look the part. You`re representing the family,” SGA explained last season. “And that kind of transferred into what it is now.”
Twice named GQ`s most stylish player, he plans his outfits weeks in advance and is meticulous about details, much like his pre-game ritual of eating a red apple. Of course, he planned his attire for the championship-winning game. Yet, “once I was in the moment,” he said, “I just wanted to win so bad that I just put something together quick.” By his usual standards, the black leather pants and dark gray sweatshirt he wore to Game 7 were understated. “It was supposed to be so much louder than this, but this morning I woke up and all I wanted to do was win, so I didn`t even have time to put effort into that. I was just like, `Let`s just go win this thing.`”
Sam Presti cultivates a very different atmosphere in his home office, modeled after Henry David Thoreau`s cabin at Walden Pond. Growing up near Concord, Massachusetts, Presti has long studied Thoreau. This room is devoid of technology, featuring only a desk, bare walls, and a deck overlooking a stream.
Thoreau sought to “live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life.” Presti comes here for a similar purpose: to think without overthinking, finding an antidote to the lessons on his office walls, the Bill Walsh photo, and his architectural books. It`s a quiet, spartan space. Sometimes, the best place to build from is in simplicity.
This time, Presti built not just for a moment, but to last. He chose players whose character allowed them to grow together, fostering a foundation of humility and sacrifice that culminated in a championship and the potential for a lasting dynasty.
